Yes, for any remotely regular use it is much cheaper to get a contract.
For example we worked out my mom was spending $2000-$3000/month on prepay cards. With a contract her spend is more like $900-1200 and because there is a monthly bill she can see the actual cost of calling and uses the phone even less.
I am a heavy user and have had a contract with Taiwan Mobile for a few years. My contract was coming up for another renewal and I wanted an HTC HD2 smartphone so I used the renewal to get my phone effectively for free. I was on a $988/month contract that gave me unlimited calls to other Taiwan Mobile users at certain times and the full $988 counted towards the cost of any other calls. I also had a $800/month unlimited 3G data contract (which is insanely cheap and fast as anyone who used 3G in America or Europe will understand). I figured out that I would be better off with a $6/month plan that gives unlimited Taiwan Mobile calls of 10 minutes or less at any time plus about 200 free minutes for everything else and very cheap fixed line calls. I also cancelled the old $800/month data contract and got a new one with exactly the same features for $699/month.
The deal with the HD2 (and most other high value phones) is that you sign for a new 30 month contract, choose a minimum $600/month call contract + $699/month data, pay 18 months rental in advance and you are charged nothing for the phone. Then your monthly bill is taken out of the $25,164 prepayment until it runs out. You will get a better deal and more freebies as a new customer rather an existing customer extending their contract. If you don’t want or can’t afford to pay a large chunk in advance you can still get some other handsets for free on more flexible terms.
You can get contracts starting from around $100-200 that have a very limited number of free minutes, calling benefits etc. As a foreigner you will probably be required to pay a deposit (refundable on contract termination) which is $2900 on Taiwan Mobile.
You can get some great deals if you’ve been a long term customer here. My GF got a bunch of money off her iPhone 3GS and she also got some voucher code for some website where she could get some stuff and apparently as a CHT user you can sign up for this site and accrue points on your monthly spending.
Still, the deals here aren’t fantastic, but then again, the call and data packages are comparably dirt cheap.
Well, considering that at least in Europe you can get most handsets free of charge, the deals here aren’t as good. Especially as you don’t have to go for the most expensive tariffs unlike here, to get a free handset of rather good quality.
However, you do pay slightly less for calls and the fact that the data packages really are unlimited if you go for the top tier ones is unbeatable.
I got a ~EUR480 handset for free with a ~EUR30/month contract that includes unlimited 3G data and free intra-network calling. Perhaps you can point us to some European operators who are offering a better deal than that.
Not a bad deal, but that seems to be an exception rather than common practice here from what I can tell. They also make you put down a hefty deposit or force you pay with a credit card that they lock a certain amount of money away as a “deposit” of sorts on. That doesn’t happen in Europe, you just pay your bill as its sent to you and you walk out of the shop with a free handset.
It looks like minutes on the pay as you go cellphones cost around 2NT (maybe 3NT) so if you don’t talk on the phone much then this can be a very good route to go (also avoiding the long-term contract). And unless they are giving you a free phone (or some other incentive) I would go the pay-as-you-go route when you come to Taiwan and then if you are talking a lot switch to a long-term plan. And you also can’t get a long-term plan until you get an ARC which can take a month.
however in hindsight I would buy my simcard at one of the larger networks because calls are free within the network so those with monthly plans will not minding calling you (it’s free to receive calls on pay-as-you-go). I went out with a girl that was trying to figure out which network I was on.
Not quite… for off-network calls Taiwan Mobile charges NT$7.2/min offpeak and NT$13.2/min peak or $6/min for on-network calls.
CHT is $4.8/min - $11.4/min for domestic calls.
So for example if you make more than 2 hours of calls a month to other Taiwan Mobile users you would be much better off with a $699/month contract that gives you free intra-network calling.
Calling just 5 minutes a day from a CHT card to fixed line phones would cost you a whopping $1,710/month. My $699 contract gets me unlimited calls under 10 minutes to Taiwan Mobile cellphones plus 80 minutes free fixed line calls and then fixed line calls are $1.5/3 minutes (that’s 22 times cheaper than a CHT prepaid card).
Sure the HD2 is an exception - it’s probably the most expensive smartphone on offer in Taiwan except for the iPhone. The BlackBerry Storm is currently going for free with only a 12 month contract.
I don’t know about Sweden but Vodafone in the UK is offering the Storm free with a 24 month contract at NT$1740/month minimum with a lousy 500MB data. There are no unlimited data plans that I know of.
I add this as an example of what I think you can do when first arriving. I am sure others have more recent experience and suggestions. I had no options upon arrival and had to figure it out myself. Each person will experience different employees with diffrent verbatim sets of rules.
I didn’t have a phone for about a week. I went to a random phone store- they are everywhere. Make it known that you want to buy a cell phone. For me, I just want the basics. I don’t nneed shitty photos nor connecting with the net. I wanted calling, receivcing and both calls and messanging. I got the low end Nokia, at about 1,500 NT. They needed and demanded a 2 year contract and I need not have a co-signer. At that time, I was not sure that I would be here for 2 years and neither were they. It was just a rule. Sign it and get the phone. They will calll the service provider and hook ya up. I left with a phone that worked. I could dial and receive international and local calls, both on SMS and voice. Later, I was able to find a guy at Chunghua Telecom in Banciao (Loise) that spoke excellent English and had no problem with renewing my contract, after the 2 years, and on my name alone without a co-signer. Prior to that, I had to buy the damned cards at 7-11. I used to spend about 1,500 NT per month for my cards. It allowed me local stuff and a couple calls home every month. Much cheaper now and I don’t have to buy the 7-11 cards.
I actually heard that you can often get recharge cards for your prepaid lines below face value(like $280 for a $300+$50 bonus CHT refill) at some small shops tailored to foreign laborers (Philipino maids, for instance) at “wai lao dian” (外勞店) or something to that effect. I tried asking around but no one seems willing enough to share where those shops are though.
When I first got here, DB and his young gf helped me get my cheap nokia phone which I still use 2.5 years later. After I had the phone my cousin took me to Far Eastone and they took my passport and gave me a pre-paid card (no ARC). I haven’t switched since then, even when my wifes 20 family members switch to a new plan. I don’t call much and so it works out cheaper for me.
Thanks DB, I think of you often when I use my beat up 2000nt phone.
I call my wife, she calls me back, and after 2 minutes she hangs up, and calls back, its annoying but saving money is saving money.
I will have to look into what catfish is talking about as far as lower priced cards because I live in a heavily populated filipino area. My only time to ask is usually on Sundays though.
I’m also looking for something where I can call overseas at a very low rate.[/quote]
The rate to call overseas is a little bit cheaper at least on my pre-paid. Local calls are expensive here even on a plan. (its all expensive) Skype is a beautiful thing. Especially for your parents.
Hey guys, I think some of you are confused about the calling rates. Prepaid is considerably and consistently more expensive per minute than postpaid. The cheapest cost to fixed line phones on prepaid is $4.8/min offpeak through CHT. The cheapest cost to fixed line phones on contract is $0.5/min through Taiwan Mobile.
Check and compare the prices carefully before deciding that prepaid is cheaper.
[quote=“llary”]Hey guys, I think some of you are confused about the calling rates. Prepaid is considerably and consistently more expensive per minute than postpaid. The cheapest cost to fixed line phones on prepaid is $4.8/min offpeak through CHT. The cheapest cost to fixed line phones on contract is $0.5/min through Taiwan Mobile.
Check and compare the prices carefully before deciding that prepaid is cheaper.[/quote]
I don’t know anyone with a landline though.
I don’t know for sure what the rates are but I do know that I used a whopping 75NT in a month and a half. And I’m certain that I have have placed 10-20 calls (outgoing) and sent 3-5 texts. Until I start spending 200+ NT/month I’m not considering a contract.
I’m moving to Taipei in a week or so and I’m planning on having a phone there. I’ve heard you can bring your own phone from the US and buy a SIM card from a local carrier, except I use Verizon here and they don’t have SIM cards in the phones. Either way, my phone here is old and scratched - I want a new phone.
My question is how easy it would be for me to buy a brand new phone in Taipei and to get local service there. I may end up using E-cards and pay as I go - I’ve heard that’s more affordable. I also want to be able to make calls back home to friends here in the US.
What do you think my best options would be - are there any good phone stores around Taipei? Which local service providers are the best? What’s the most affordable way to make long-distance calls to the USA? Can I get local service on a Visitor visa and use E-cards as well? How does it all work?
You need an ARC in order to get postpaid service, but I heard that prepaid service doesn’t require one. Every phone store sells GSM phones unlocked, although for things like the iPhone where there’s a really big gray market you need to be careful not buying a locked US or Japanese model.
I suggest researching first the model of phone you want then go to www.ruten.com.tw (Taiwan’s eBay) to figure out what the street price is (it’s all in Chinese, unfortunately, but look for listings and prices with “單機” or “空機” - those are prices without a contract.
To make international calls back to the US, you can directly dial the number on your phone by adding a proper prefix. The price actually is not too bad (like NT$5/min) compared to the cost of making an international call in the US. Chunghwa Telecom has 2 pricing schemes for international calls, 002 and 009. I think 002 is the one billed in 6-second increments, while 009 is billed on a per-minute basis. Other telecoms also offer special rates for international calls, so check with the company you will be signing up with.
Just to add to what Catfish said, almost all carrier brick and mortar retail in Taiwan will sell brand new phones unlocked. Subsidized handsets do exist, but the option to buy unlocked is always there. Expect to pay between NT10,000 to NT30,000 depending on the complexity of the handset. The average touch smartphone (e.g. iPhone, Hero, Touch Diamond) will ring in about 20k-25k NT, or about 600 USD. There are also used stores, but make sure you know exactly what you’re buying before you open your wallet.
Use a web call-out service like Skype if you can. There are ways to make free calls to U.S. phone numbers from Taiwan too, involving Google Voice and SIP clients.
There is a substantial amount of information on getting mobile service in Taiwan in this subforum and the Tech subforum. Just run a search.